Building Rural Property on Rustic land
All land which is outside of the limits of a town or a village is considered to be 'rustic' land and is, since the end of 2002, subject to many more restrictions than urban land.
Law 7/2002 of Andalucia was introduced in December 2002 and has completely changed the development of the whole area. The object of the law (as far as country areas were concerned) was to stop wide-scale indiscriminate building in unspoilt country areas. Unfortunately, the confusion caused by the introduction of this law has led to town councils virtually stopping any building outside of urban areas, at least until they have decided what the limitations are.
As things stand (January 2004), the only new building allowed on rustic land is in connection with:
- Bona fide agricultural production (cultivation of crops) - it is not totally clear what the definition of 'bona fide' is
- Forestry
- Rural tourism, which includes camp sites, caravan parks, etc. However, a number of town councils are fighting against the establishment of both camp sites and caravan parks.
- Animal husbandry. This requires special permission from the town council, which in some areas is no longer forthcoming, especially for pigs.
It has, on one or two occasions, been mentioned that justification is required for a dwelling to be constructed in order to service some of the above activities. As far as rural tourism and animal husbandry (subject to other permissions being granted) are concerned, this would seem realistic. Cultivation of crops could be argued as long as the crops required a great deal of care (e.g., organic fruit and vegetables). Forestry carries no weight at all for this justification. However, after many searches through the text of the law, we cannot find reference to this required justification at all, and must assume that this arises from misinterpretation.
This question is an ongoing discussion; we are actively involved in finding legal solutions (but read all about ruins) and will update these web pages as soon as the situation becomes clearer.